It is Time to Stand Up and Be Counted

By Ken Rishel

Anyone familiar with the Captive Finance Newsletter knows I have very little faith in any government backed chattel finance program coming to fruition or, if it does, being the answer to the manufactured housing industry’s prayers. If it happens, it will only double the current sales volume and that is not enough. However, it is worth some effort to try to make it happen because doubling industry sales is an important thing, even if it isn’t the whole answer. While I still believe that owner assisted financing is the real answer, I am asking you to join me in a last ditch effort to help MHI in their efforts to make this thing work.

For those of you who don’t know, MHI made a plea last week at their Summer Meeting in Washington DC for industry members to email the government and their Congressmen and Senators asking FHFA to not ignore their duty to serve. Greg O’ Berry of Hometown America went even farther and suggested both at the MHI meeting and in this ezine that community owners and operators ask their residents to also email everyone explaining that the value of their investments in their homes would be adversely affected if government backed chattel financing did not come to fruition.

Because I am skeptical about this program ever emerging and because I am so focused on more complete solutions, I have not lifted a finger to help. I have however, come to realize that is the wrong attitude. Nothing is ever won by people finding fault, or not trying to make something work, and I now do not want to feel as if I did nothing when something could make a difference. This manufactured housing industry is something special, and all of us owe it more than we can ever repay. We just need to realize it, and pay up in some measure. I know that, because that is what has kept me running 16 hours a day while being called a fear merchant for the last several years, when I could have been on a beach in Hawaii watching my wife learn the Hula. I know it, but I didn’t act on it when it came to this issue. I am ashamed of my lack of action. To those of you who have already gotten involved, I apologize for my lack of action.

Perhaps it was Greg’s impassioned plea, but it struck me that all of us in this industry, no matter how cynical, could at least stand up and be counted on this issue. As a result, I am emailing everyone that makes sense tonight ( FHFA, Congressmen, and Senators) after I finish this article to you. My question is, “What are you going to do”? Will you make the same effort after reading this? Will you reach out to others and persuade them to do the same? If you are a community owner, operator, or manager, will you follow Greg’s lead and ask your residents to do the same? Will you stand up and be counted?

Ken Rishel of Precision Capital Funding is a leading expert in chattel financing of manufactured homes and in starting and running owner assisted finance operations. His organization was named MHI’s Service Supplier of the Year for 2010, and he authors and publishes the Chattel Finance Newsletter which goes out to over 9,000 people on a monthly basis.